BELIZE FOREIGN POLICY ISSUE GAINS UDP GOVERNMENT 10 POINTS ON REPORT CARD to 58%

UDP GOVERNMENT GETS A BOOST OF 10 POINTS FOR FOREIGN POLICY DEVELOPMENTS. REPORT CARD GOES FROM 48% TO 58%

What happened was that Belize and Guatemala; both governments, the Congress of Guatemala and the Legislature of Belize have just signed an agreement in Guatemala City, with both President of Guatemala and Prime Minister of Belize present, in a TRADE AGREEMENT. This is called a PARTIAL SCOPE TRADE AGREEMENT. The thing is; the signing gives Belize the edge in having a huge market next door in our neighbor for us to sell things. Guatemala has a much larger economy than Belize. The Agreement is partially one side, intended to help Belize.
You have to know the background, to know why we are giving the Belize Government 10 points on their report card. We debated this and originally thought 2 points, or maybe 5 points would be enough. The agreement though small is a MONUMENTAL BREAK THROUGH IN FOREIGN POLICY BETWEEN TWO PREVIOUSLY ESTRANGED NEIGHBORS.
Putting the obvious TRADE issues aside, you have to look at the Congress of Guatemala and the Legislature of Belize, both elected people, have put aside old dividing issues over the old Colonial issues between Guatemala and the UK and are now working in recognition of each as neighbors and respecting the sovereignty of each other's country, borders and all that means. While the GUATEMALAN claim still exists in their Constitution, it no longer has any practical effect in the current real world. We just need to ignore it.
The approval and signing by the Congress of Guatemala and the President of Guatemala with Prime Minister of Belize, defacto recognizes Belize as a SOVEREIGN NEIGHBOR, government to government by their elected bodies is a MONUMENTAL STEP.
The time when a rabid RACIST BLACK PANTHER GROUP out of South Side, port of Belize City, played the racist card and divided the nation of Belize and our foreign relations spin off, seems to have died a quiet death. There was a time, within the last two years, when even our Attorney General was talking about eventual WAR with Guatemala. The racism was that bad down in our coastal port. The misconceptions and Black Panther, trouble makers continued to work overtime in our black populated port, South side.
Other effects are that the UDP new Government is now recognizing that our economic future lies more with our Latin neighbors, who are accessible by plane, road, car, truck and highway transportation. This is a huge turn--round in attitude.
It opens our door to much greater opportunities to come. As part of a Central American market, our capacity to expand our economy and provide local jobs, is only limited by our imagination and entrepreneurial educational systems, in jump starting a new generation of youngsters to recognize and work and take advantage of what is available to them. Look WEST young people, LOOK WEST!
Guatemala is going through a huge change of democratic development. Long riddled by corruption, military mafia groups with hit squads, crooked politicians and administrative bureaucrats, the parallel paralyzing criminal groups are being laid low, our Ambassador to Belize said on TV tonight. He explained that a GOVERNMENT DRUG DEPARTMENT CHIEF was recently sent to jail. Two National Chiefs of Police have ended up in jail in the last seven months, one ex-President of Guatemala is going to go to court and probably will end up in jail for embezzling government money, he is out on bail. ( his travel documents have been seized ) Our Ambassador of Belize to Guatemala said; he believes that Guatemalan President Colom is a GOOD MAN and honest. I believe our Ambassador when he says that. He said, he ( President Colom ) has just been crippled politically in his administration, by parallel organized criminal groups with members in leadership positions, all through the administration of bureaucratic government in Guatemala. The United Nations has a team in Guatemala of over a 100 people rooting out the criminals from government at the request of the President of Guatemala. They are meeting with some success in fighting corruption over there.
On the other hand, I am struck by the difference between BELIZE and CARICOM, and when one watches CARIBBEAN NEWS on television channel 5 in Belize. There is no NEWS out of the CARICOM countries! It is all EGO's, politicians grandstanding and spouting words and bombast. Protests and marches to get votes in the next elections. Night after night listening to wanna be politicians lusting after a government position to feed at the tax trough. Nobody in the CARICOM countries are doing any work, or governing. They dress in English suits, and wear ties in a hot humid tropical country, like so many ORGAN GRINDER monkey's in London's U.K. Hyde Park, with their hands out at the begging ( gimme dollar ) trough, from the international community.
CARICOM has no leaders! That is why this FOREIGN POLICY step is so important to BELIZE. It is based not on EGO's, politics, racism, but on plain common sense economics. Chase the DOLLAR mon! Go where the money is and our economy can build.
Recognizing that, the impact of switch by the UDP government in dealing with our greater Latin neighbors and foreign policy initiatives, means instead of 2 points, or 5 points we gave them 10 points. It's all about attitude and policy mon!
Way to go UDP for the FOREIGN POLICY LEADERSHIP.